The Republican/Lori StabileMembers of the senior robotics team at Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School stand with their robot. The team won the "Innovate Award" for having the robot with the most innovative design at a statewide competition on March 10. From left to right, Jake Moriarty, Matthew Montebello, William Stebbins II, John Messier, Michael Mulhollen, Jason Deyo, Dylan Benavides, Michael Carrigan Jr., Kyle Fish, Ryan McQuaid and electronics and robotics instructor Eric A. Duda.

PALMER — They put their robots to the test, and came home with awards to prove it.

The theme was “Bowled Over” and the robotics teams had to create robots that could maneuver around a 12-foot square field, fit inside an 18-inch box and could lift plastic ball crates containing racquetballs and move two bowling balls.

They got points for rolling bowling balls up ramps, and had to stack the crates, which were set up like bowling pins.

The first 30 seconds marked the autonomous period with no human control over the robot, followed by the two-minute driver-controlled period. They also couldn’t push the opponents’ robot out of the way, or they would be penalized.

The seniors won the “Rockwell Collins Innovate Award,” for the most creative and innovative robot design. The rookie junior team won the “Think Award,” given to the team that best reflects the journey it took as they experienced the engineering design process. Only six awards were given.

Teamwork was the key to doing well in the competition, the juniors and seniors said.

Members of the junior robotics team at Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School stand next to their robot, which won them the "Think Award" at a March 10 competition in Andover. From left to right, front row: Kyle Lussier, Gustavo Rodriguez, Matthew Roberts and Bernadette Dineen. Center row: Nicholas McDonough and Mackaiden Morini. Back row: Electronics and robotics instructor Eric A. Duda, Adam Portelada, Devyn Jess, Tyler Menard and Rache Yaeger.

“Before we did anything, we always brainstormed before we moved on to the next point,” said senior team vice captain Jake Moriarty, of Monson.

Seniors Matthew Montebello, of Monson, and William Stebbins II, of Warren, worked on the logbook, which included team biographies and details on how the team arrived at its final creation.

While the majority of the senior team is part of the electronics shop, under the direction of electronics-robotics instructor Eric A. Duda, John Messier, of Ware, a computer aided drafting student, also was recruited, marking the first time someone from outside electronics participated on the team. Duda said the plan is to involve students from even more shops on his robotics teams next year.

Also on the senior team were Dylan Benavides and captain Ryan McQuaid, of Ware; Michael Mulhollen, of Three Rivers; Kyle Fish, of Monson; Jason Deyo, of Bondsville; and Michael Carrigan Jr., of Oakham.

McQuaid explained that they watched a video detailing the “bowled over” game, so they would understand how to build the robot. Still, it went through multiple design changes, said McQuaid, adding the team spent many hours after school. Duda said it took probably two months to perfect the design. The robot featured an impressive scissor lift that could raise a crate 80 inches into the air.

McQuaid and Carrigan went to the school’s machine shop to build the scissor lift; calculus was used to figure out the mechanics of it. They worked with a team charter, voted on by all members.

There were a total of five matches at Andover.

The junior team, composed of team captain Kyle Lussier and members Rache Yaeger, and Mackaiden Morini, of Ware; vice captain Matthew Roberts, of Thorndike; Devyn Jess, of Belchertown; Tyler Menard and Adam Portelada, of Ludlow; Nicholas McDonough, of Palmer; Gustavo Rodriguez, of Amherst; and Bernadette Dineen, also had a charter, and each member had specific responsibilities as well. A secret ballot was held to designate the duties.

Dineen, of Monson, was in charge of the logbook. Yaeger and Menard were the computer programmers.

Roberts said the competition brought them all closer together. A poster board they used during the competition stated “Welcome to the Family.”

“It was the best team I had ever seen,” Duda said about the juniors, praising their teamwork.

Lussier said building the entire robot was a challenge, and said the finished product looked much different from what they started with. Lussier said he was especially proud of what they created.

“There was a lot we had to figure out ourselves. It was a team effort,” said Yaeger, adding that he and Menard didn’t know much about programming, and had to look up tutorials online to figure it out.

Duda said he was proud of his teams, and how the competition showed them how much fun science and engineering can be.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with them ... they learned to love math, science and engineering, and if they find an interest in it and maybe go to college for it, what more can you ask for?” Duda said.